Conventionally, as a fiber reinforced composite material widely used for a light-weight structural material, three-dimensional fabric material (three-dimensional fiber structure) exists for use as a reinforcing material. This fiber reinforced composite material has very high strength and is used for forming part of the structural material for aircraft and the like. Methods for forming the three-dimensional fiber structure for use as a reinforcing material in fiber reinforced composite material includes a method comprising laminating a plurality of layers of fiber bundles in which the fiber bundles are arranged in a folded state to form the layers of the fiber bundles having at least two biaxial orientations and connecting the layers of the fiber bundles with threads extending in a thickness direction, which is a direction perpendicular to each of the layer of the fiber bundles. Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose apparatus for arranging one or more fiber bundles in which one or more fiber bundles are drawn out of one or more guide pipes that are transferred along their plane of arrangement and the one or more fiber bundles are arranged among pins spaced at a predetermined pitch in a flat state so that flat faces of the folded fiber bundles are arranged along the arrangement plane to form a layer of the fiber bundles.
Patent Document 1 discloses an embodiment in which a plurality of guide pipes are used to arrange a plurality of fiber bundles simultaneously. In the configuration where a plurality of fiber bundles are arranged simultaneously, the time for forming a layer of the fiber bundles is significantly reduced compared with the case where one fiber bundle is arranged at one time.
However, when a direction in which the plurality of guide pipes moves is turned to wind the fiber bundles around pins, it is possible for a guide pipe to be interfered with or caught by the fiber bundle drawn out of another guide pipe. This may cause bending or breakage of the guide pipes.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2000-199151    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2007-16347